Chicopee high school artists display work at public library

CHICOPEE – By repeatedly writing words such as large, docile, ocean and seas, Ellie Morin created a pen and ink drawing of a manatee that won her a first place in the annual high school art show.

“I’ve always loved large mammals and I want to go into zoological science,” said Morin, 17, a senior at Chicopee High School who will be a pre-veterinary major at Becker College in the fall.

The assignment, which took at least two weeks to complete, was to create a drawing using just words. There was no shading so to make areas lighter or darker Morin said she layered words over others or spaced out words.

Her first-place award was for drawing. There were also awards for sculpture, mixed media, painting, ceramics, sculpture and digital animation, said Beth McDonald, an art teacher at Chicopee High School and the show organizer.

Every year, the eight art teachers from the three high schools, Chicopee High, Comprehensive High and Chicopee Academy select the best of their students’ work to be judged and displayed in the community room of the Public Library. With each teacher invited to select between 12 to 15 pieces there were more than 120 different works displayed, she said.

“We like to have the opportunity to have the kids’ work shared in the community,” she said.

Teachers submitted a variety of work from acrylics and mixed media to pastels and sculpture. New this year was a graphic video category with work mostly coming from Comprehensive High School.

A panel of 16 judges, including art professors from Holyoke Community College, art teachers from the elementary schools and other school officials, then examined each work to name the best of each category as well as best of show, McDonald said.

The best of show winner this year was Sofia Nardi who won for her portrait in charcoal, McDonald said.

“The kids are always so impressive. I like to see their work every year,” she said.

Jonathan Santos, 19, a senior at Chicopee High School, won first place in photography for his picture of a lone tree on the ridge of Mount Tom.

“It was the tree that caught my eye. It has a desert theme and the lighting was perfect,” he said.

The photograph, like a lot of those Santos takes, was in black and white. He referred to it as “old school.”

While Santos said he has been interested in photography for some time, he said taking classes has opened his eyes to a lot of different techniques.

Olivia Korell, 17, a senior at Comprehensive High School, received a first runner-up award for her close-up photograph of a bright pink impatiens flower with raindrops on the petals.

“I do a lot of close-ups and I like nature photography,” Korell said adding she can spend an hour trying to get the right shot of a flower.

But in this case she just took a quick picture of a flower in the school courtyard.